SAM ROWLANDS, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, is backing an initiative to help children access the great outdoors.
Mr Rowlands, a keen supporter of encouraging young children to embrace nature and the environment, has welcomed The National Lottery Community Fund’s ‘Meithrin Natur’, a £10 million funding programme to help improve the health and wellbeing of babies, children, their families and care givers across Wales, through connection with the natural environment.
Mr Rowlands said: “Everyone knows how passionate I am about the great outdoors and encouraging people, especially young children, to embrace nature and the environment.
“In my constituency of North Wales we are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful area embracing the great outdoors with wonderful forests, national parks and beaches and I welcome this new programme.
“As Chair of the Senedd’s Cross-Party Group on the Outdoor Activity Sector I am happy to support this initiative as I believe it is so important to encourage a strong connection with nature from very early years.”
The National Lottery Community Fund has launched the new funding to help babies and children across Wales get closer to nature. Meithrin Natur, a £10 million initiative aims to improve children’s health and wellbeing by fostering a strong connection with nature from the earliest stages of life.
The funding programme, which translates as Nurturing Nature, is open to a wide range of partnership projects. As part of the programme, partnership projects are defined as those that combine early years organisations with those that have experience and knowledge of the environment.
The funding is in response to a growing body of evidence that shows that spending time in natural environments increases children’s personal wellbeing and health over time.
By supporting access to nature, this programme aims to improve the health and wellbeing of babies, children, their families and care givers across the country by providing them opportunities to connect with the great outdoors.
Applications are now open and a launch event, which will include a presentation of the programme and a networking opportunity, is planned for Wrexham on October 8. With a following two sessions online on October 9, from 2pm to 4pm and October 15, from 11am to 1pm.
Visit The National Lottery Community Fund’s website to find out more and apply.
